The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1887-08-27
WRECKED AT THE ""
Singular and Fatal Railway Accident a,
Washington.

WASHINGTON, D. c., Aug. 1.-THE few
residents in the neighbOrhOod of the
Baltimore 4 Ohio 'Y' who were M
and on the street at 6:30 o'clock this
morning witnessed a singular and start
hing scene. 1t was no less a spectacle
than that of train of cars leaping from
the track and rushing with the speed OF
lightning and the crash of a thunderbolt
through a brick house. In an instant
the train and the house were in a heap
OF ruins, and the track tor some distance
was Uttered with debris.
The train TO which the accident oc-
Cured was train No. 4, the st. Louis,
Chicago Il Cincinnati express, coming
from the West. About $50 it came
laundering into the city over the Met
ropohtan branch, and at the curve,
nearly. a mlae away from the ~ =" began
whisthng down brakes" For some
reason the brakes were not put down.
The air brakes, 1t was stated, did not
work and the engineer began blowing
his distress whistle for the brakemen to
put on the regular brakes Either the
brakeman did not heed the signal or it
was not given in time to be of use, for
the train, flying at trightful rate, came
laundering on toward the sharp curve
at JIle /
On the south side of the "Y'' in the
little corner made by the intersection of
the tracks was located the railroad sig
nal tower a brick structure, three stories
high, where railroad men are employed
70 regulate the signals and the switches
1.-THE 'G.' When the train turned the
sharp curve of the "Y' with fearful
headway, the cars behind the engine
flew the track and smashed into the
signal tower. In an instant there was
wreck which for confusion has
seldom been equallcd in railroad an
nais The engine was dragged from the
track and pioughing through the dirt and
mud distance of $50 feet rolled com
pIetelyoyer. Near the engine lay Hamil-
ton BrOslus, the engineer, crushed and
dying, and his fireman with several
bones broken. But behind the engine
was scene of panic and cOntus-
ion. One car was crushed and nearly
buried under the tracks and
timbeIs of the demolished building.
Two sleeping coaches and one passenger
coach remained on the track. The
mail ear, the express car and the bag
gage car We're rolled over and their sides
were crushed. The roof Of one car pro-
truaed from the ruins of the building.
The disaster, OF course, at once created
intense excitement. A fire alarm was
sounded, whi i.h quickly brought the
fire department and police to the scene.
Amhu.duCeS We're hurriedly sent for,
and a corps OF physicians came, sum
mOned from every direction Fremen,
policemen. railroad men and the citi-
ZeuS went to work with coats Oft to clear
ON. the debris Many injured passen-
gers we're removed and taken TO neigh
D..
or t. hospitals. In this way
eighteen or twenty people were
got out Of the wreck. some of them
only slightly injured, others with bones
broken and bodies badly bruised and
cut. Iuthe signal tower, on the upper
floor, or observatory, William Baxter,
railroad signal man. was at work. lie
realized the impending danger in time,
and ieapej from the tower to the
ground. He broke his arm n the fall,
and was badly used up. He escaped
more serious injury.
some of the passengers oftbe wrecked
train returned to their Western homes
instead OF continuing ON their journey
to the East. The following is believed
t1 be fun list Of the injured. They
We're sent to the Providence hospital
with the exception of Healy and Bax-
ter: Charles Koch, Cincinnati, badly
injured N the back; Mrs.
Charlie Koch, Cincinnati, slightly shock
ed; Charles Morrison, Cincinnati, in
iured in the back; Frank Deuauer, st.
Louis, shoulder dislocated; j. b. Smith,
fireman, Cincinnati, both legs broken;
Wilhelm Buck, Cincinnati, head cut bad
iy; Ed. LCchmeyer, Cincinnati, slightly
injured. Joseph Healy, Washington,
seriously injured; Will Baxter, telegraph